I've been a die hard for most of my life. I remember my uncles taking me to my first game in 89 against the Rams. We lost that one. But, I'm a second generation Saints fan. I remember when the team was losing and we would be blacked out on local TV, I was a teenager working at Mc Donalds. I would go to the games in my uniform and if we lost I would call in sick and go back home depressed. It was hard to go to work when we lost. I love my Who Dats!_________________All I want to hear is Who Dat in the French Quarters after the 2013 Super Bowl. That would mean we won it. WHO DAT!

My parents are 8th generation Pittsburgh-ers, and as such are diehard Steelers fans.
We used to live just outside of Baton Rouge, and this is where my Saint-anism began.

I was 10, and my parents won tickets to the Steelers-Saints game that year, scheduled to be in the dome. Seeing as how we didn't have much money, this was a once-in-a-decade sort of opportunity. IIRC, which i do, the Saints lost.

Why am i a Saints fan, then?

We were in the rows just under the boxes. There was a group of guys and girls in the box above us, watching the game in between the monitors in the box and actually viewing the field. One particular woman, probably in her early twenties took a look at me, in my tattered Maddox jersey and torn up sweatpants, and decided that even though we were fans of the opposing team, we were people still.

Much to the chagrin of her friends, she brought myself and my family into the box with her. She told us we were welcome to whatever we wanted to eat or drink, and informed us that we wouldn't be riding home on the bus that we used to get there. Rather, she would be driving us home in her Mercedes.

When we pulled up to my house, she was quite distressed by the run down state of the place. Not to mention our car looked, literally, like it was falling apart, piece by piece. We said goodbye, thanked her for the ride, walked inside, and unpacked all the food that we had put in our pockets so we could have food that week.

The next morning, we awoke to what sounded like screeching tires outside our house. Given our neighborhood, it wasn't surprising, but we still liked to go outside and watch what was going on.

What was surprising was the brand new Jeep Commander sitting in the driveway, and the carpenters there who had been given a $200,000 budget to fix whatever may need it. Over each headrest in the jeep was a jersey, one for each of us. Mine was an Aaron Brooks jersey.

I am military serving in Germany. Born in New Orleans... to not be a Saints fan was considered blasphemy. I do not want to blaspheme...EVER!

Fondest memory was 1984 IIRC (just found out what that means...google is awesome... thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet!) We were playing the L.A. Rams and won 6-0... it was a bright spot of the dismal season. I remember the brown bags like yesterday. I love NOLA and will always call it home._________________

I wasn't much of a football kid. I played baseball and soccer. My grandfather however, was a football nut. He loved his Huskers and the Niners. He took me to my first ever football game at Candlestick.

Pregame. Meet and greet day for kids, so we arrived at the field early. I've got my notepad and pen and I'm walking around asking players for autographs. Pretty cool experience, even if I wasn't much into football.

Jerry Rice.

"Hello Mr. Rice. May I have your autograph?"

"Sure kid." (takes my pad and pen) "First you have to answer a question for me though."

"Sure!"

"Who's your favorite football player?"

I suppose this is the part where I should have been naming a 49er of some sort. (after thinking a moment) "Umm, Lawernce Taylor "

"No. He's not even a fan of the 49ers" (Jerkoff continues to walk away)

At this point, I decide I'm going to let him have it. "I HOPE YOU GUYS GET YOUR (REAR ENDS) KICKED!!!" I know, I know. Totally harsh

Insert Sam Mills. Sam had been within earshot when I decided to yell at Jerkoff Jerry. Seeing the disturbance he came over to me and my grandfather and asked if everything was okay, and what that was all about. I relayed the fact that Jerkoff Jerry hadn't given me an autograph. Sam was genuinely concerned. He told me "Well, that's not very nice, is it?" Then he proceeded to call over Vaughan Johnson and Rickey Jackson. They all gave me an autograph and took a picture with me and my grandfather. (No Pat Swilling, otherwise it would of been the whole Dome Patrol!! )

Saints won that game 26-24, and handed the Niners one of I believe two losses on the season. Saints also ended up with their first winning season in franchise history (12-3), as well as their first postseason birth in franchise history. From that day forward, I was a diehard Saints fan, and a 49er hater._________________

Gets better. Fast forward 7-8 years. I'm at a JC playing baseball. The way we raised $$ for tournament funds was working security for the Niners. The guys in yellow "Staff" jackets all over the stadium? Yah, that was us.

Saints at Niners. I'm begging the stadium coordinator like mad to let me work the Saints locker room tunnel. After some serious groveling he agrees. Before tunnel duty though, I'm posted at the Niner player entrance. Niner players are pulling up and parking. Most just give a casual nod to us and continue into the stadium. A select few are super cool. Most notably Tom Rathman and Ricky Watters.

Tom actually stopped, shook our hands (there were 2 of us), and started up some small talk with us. While most of the players were driving super nice cars and wearing nice suits, Tom was wearing cut off jeans, a tank top, and driving a beat up chevy truck. Classic. He joked that the truck was his baby and his wife drove the nice stuff.

Jerry pulls up in his sports car (can't remember what it was) and jumps out in his million dollar suit. As he gets close to us, Tom turns to Jerry and says "Hey Jerry, this is (name) and (name). They're working tunnel for us today." Now, mind you, neither myself or my buddy initiated any contact. At this point we both put out our hands to shake hands, figuring that's what you do after that, right? Jerry just kind of looked at us with a look of disdain and walked right by. No hand shake. When Jerky was out of earshot, Tom looked at us and appologized. Then he told us not to worry about it, that Jerky was a (donkey hole) anyway.

I've had the displeasure of meeting (or not) Mr. Rice twice now. Is it a bad thing to hope he gets 4 flat tires every time he leaves his driveway?_________________

I also remember the Kyle Turley helmet incident. In fact, it's one of those things from my childhood that I'll never forget.

Kyle cemented himself as one of my all time favorite Saints after that moment. My family would go and see him and Jerry Fontenot (center at the time) on certain nights when they would be doing a radio show at Deanie's in Bucktown, loved those nights. And my grandpa actually got him to show up at our house on Christmas and present me with an autographed Turley jersey!

My grandpa was a supervisor for Security moving lines who took care of all the Saints "mobility" needs at the time. Pulled a lot of strings for that. Turley was a very cool cat._________________

Not much of one here. I grew up in New Orleans (you kinda have to be a fan). But when Katrina forced me to move to Houston, that's when I became a Saints 'addict'. It was a way of me still connecting with me home. That's it born a fan, Katrina made me a super fan._________________Adopt a Saint 2014
Jimmy Graham: 56 rec, 594yds, 7 TDs
Kasim Edebali: 7 tckl, 2 sck, 1 ff

I started to play American Football [Safety and Cornerback/sometimes WR] in University [College] over here in the UK in 2007. I didn't support anyone at the time, but it seemed like a great sport to play and to keep me fit.

Everyone on the team had a team they supported bar a few. They needed Bills, Saints, Titans and a few others. They basically sold it to me as "They have a midget for a QB and Reggie Bush plays for them".

Decided to adopt the Saints as my team after watching some Bush hihglights and slowly and surely became more and more interested in the sport and team. Culminated in visiting New Orleans in the summer of 2010 [alongside Florida, San Diego and Houston] whilst in the US.